Warner will reward adopters of UltraViolet with early access

Early adopters of UltraViolet will get access to content weeks ahead of customers of traditional packaged and VOD releases, according to Time Warner CFO John Martin.

Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom conference in San Francisco, Martin told the audience that Warner Bros. is fully invested in UltraViolet, which allows consumers to store digital copies of movies in the cloud. As of 2013, all major studios, with the exception of Disney, have signed on to the system. Warner will include free UltraViolet movies with select Blu-ray player purchases and 10 titles with a new HDTV.

But for those who aren't racing into UltraViolet , Martin noted that Warner would be doing a robust business in streaming video-on-demand (SVOD). He said that this year Warner would bring in more than its $350 million in revenue it brought in in 2012. The company is in negotiations for SVOD agreements with Comcast's Xfinity Streampix and Redbox Instant by Verizon.

Martin touched on HBO Go, which could create a worthy adversary to Netflix in terms of streaming original content. HBO Go is available in 10 Latin American and eight European countries and will debut in Asia later this year. But U.S. consumers who are eager to get HBO Go without subscribing to the cable network will still have to wait.

“You’ll see different models on a territory by territory basis,” Martin said. “You’ll see us move into a direction we see as most lucrative to us.”